Summary
BitBNS (Bitbns) is an Indian cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2017 by Gaurav Dahake, Prashant Singh, and Srikanth Sethumadhavan, operating under Buyhatke Internet Private Limited and headquartered in Bengaluru. In February 2022 the exchange suffered a $7.5 million hack that it concealed from users under the guise of 'system maintenance' for over a year until on-chain investigator ZachXBT publicly exposed the breach in March 2023. The exchange subsequently froze user withdrawals for approximately two years, drawing multiple court actions in India and sustained criticism for withholding customer funds while continuing to accept new deposits.
Connected Entities
2 entities- + 3 more
Timeline(12 events)
2017-12-14
BitBNS launched in Bengaluru, India, by Gaurav Dahake, Prashant Singh, and Srikanth Sethumadhavan under Buyhatke Internet Private Limited.
2018-04-06
Reserve Bank of India ban on crypto banking services causes 95 percent volume drop on BitBNS.
2020-03-04
Indian Supreme Court lifts RBI banking ban on cryptocurrency; BitBNS volumes recover.
2022-02-01
BitBNS suffers $7.5 million hack. Exchange publicly describes the platform downtime as routine 'system maintenance.' Stolen funds subsequently laundered through Tornado Cash in batches of approximately 100 ETH.
2022-12-15
INR withdrawal suspensions begin on BitBNS, affecting thousands of users.
2023-03-01
ZachXBT publicly exposes the concealed February 2022 hack via on-chain analysis, forcing CEO Gaurav Dahake to confirm the breach in a public AMA. Dahake attributes delayed disclosure to law enforcement advice.
2023-06-27
Multiple user accounts on BitBNS report portfolio balances dropping to zero. Exchange halts all withdrawals while continuing to accept deposits.
2024-03-13
BitBNS announces INR withdrawals resuming for 'one million users' but provides no follow-up updates.
2024-12-05
Over 30 users file a formal legal notice against BitBNS through advocate Aman Rehaan Khan documenting alleged patterns of service failures and fund withholding.
2024-12-19
BitBNS announces processing of 541 withdrawals between December 19 and December 24, 2024, described as first tangible progress after more than two years.
2025-01-09
Delhi High Court seeks responses from SEBI and RBI on cryptocurrency oversight following writ petition by 16 BitBNS users alleging financial fraud and fund mismanagement.
2026-02-11
Delhi High Court dismisses writ petitions by BitBNS investors under Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, ruling BitBNS is a private entity outside constitutional writ jurisdiction and directing investors to pursue civil or criminal remedies.
Decision Log
- hash: C99X7Hqf2xjmT1rzw5dP2f4pTFBuJEkfHpDnvHTkktoS
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:51 AM
last updated: 5/28/2026, 5:38:02 PM
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